Companion DPS Armour Question

Rezdayn

Hello,

I have recently finished maxing every skill line and the rapport for my companion and I have decided I want them to be a DPS. In particular a magic DPS. However I had a look at their armour passives and now have a question for the community which I hope someone can answer.

This is their light armour passives below.



As you can see it gives a bonus to healing and break free.

and this is their medium armour passives below.



As you can see it gives a bonus to damage and roll dodge.

So here is my question. Does this mean a companion who is a DPS should always use medium armour even if they are a magic DPS? Medium armour gives a bonus to damage. The light armour does healing and I dont care about that.

I might be missing something important though. The active ability for medium armour just makes the companion disappear (nothing for DPS). The light armour active ability resets all the companions abilities which sounds awesome for DPS. Maybe that's why all the guides for magic based companions say to use full light armour.

Anyways I hope someone can tell me.

oh and cant wait for purple companion gear to be a reasonable price lol...

phaneub17_ESO

From my personal experience it comes down to what content you're doing and how long is an average battle.

If its mostly trash mobs that are quick then Medium armor is better for sheer damage, but is not as important when up against long duration battles. Dodge Roll is actually detrimental as it increases the chance of them moving a target outside of their leash range and reset, they also Dodge Roll for the stupidest reasons and not for things that actually would keep them alive; mob gets close without doing anything threatening they dodge, while red damaging circle they just stand in there.

If you're doing harder, longer battles like Boss mobs then Light Armor takes the cake. Haste is a question to be asked, do you want 5 or 8 upfront abilities in the first 5 seconds? Skipping entire cooldowns is extremely nice while it doesn't affect itself, it does affect other abilities that are also 36 second cooldown like Crimson Font and Skeletal Aegis. Why does that matter? They are Synergy skills and activating them does grant you Undaunting Command allowing you to go from 2 to 4 charges every 36 seconds for more self recovery. There's also abilities like Parallel, double that for 100 Ultimate energy in the first 5 seconds of combat then repeating again every 36 seconds. Can you even generate your Ultimate that fast?

jle30303

What about the third possibility: having them wear heavy armour so they actually survive longer against trash? Can't do more damage if you're dead...

Zodiarkslayer

I think companions are trash at DPS. Most of the time they do less than 5k.
Maybe, if you invest a million or ten into gear and a day or twenty to level, they become better, but I have yet to see a companion do more than 10k. I do not think it's worth it.

However, I am very satisfied with Isobel as Tank and Mirri and Ember as Healers. I think that's their best role.

seanaseb17_ESO

Yes: if you want your companion to do damage, medium is the only choice. Medium also gives you the companion-life-saving Vanish ability, which should always be in the first slot of your companion's skill bar.

virtus753

Taking companion synergies does not activate Undaunted Command, unfortunately. At least it doesn’t ever work that way for me.

phaneub17_ESO

Wow this is an old thread, but I stand by my statement back then, the best choice is not Medium armor its Light armor. If you're looking for straight damage, the different between Medium and Light armor is 5-7% difference in increased damage, casting 5 attack abilities vs casting 8 attack abilities; 9 if you use Ember. I'd also argue Quickened is better than Aggressive for increased frequency of casting over more idle time auto attacking, in most situations.

This is only considering straight damage not taking into account any defensive abilities or the companion's survival as a dead companion does no damage. This also only applies to Overland, Delves, and Public Dungeons with no applied penetration. Full Aggressive Medium using 5 attack abilities deals 46,260 damage per rotation. Full Quickened Light using 4 attack abilities and Haste deals 58,640 damage per rotation; while you do less damage per ability, they are striking twice with Haste repeating every 25 seconds. Ember is special with 3 attack abilities, Haste, and Second Wind deals 65,970 damage repeating every 15 seconds.

For Group Dungeons, Arena, and Trials; if someone can apply Major Breach and Minor Breach, Fire/Lightning Staff, 2 Medium, 5 Light for Haste, 7 Shattering, 5 Aggressive. Their 8 attack abilities deals around 77,168 damage per rotation repeating every 36 seconds. The Ember special deals around 86,814 damage per rotation repeating every 27 seconds. This is assuming you can also keep them alive.

Jim_Pipp

If you are doing a min/maxed dps companion builds then you probably want medium armor.

The only DD light armor build is (as Phaneup17 says) a "haste" build, which uses the armor skill to recast powerful long cooldown abilities twice in the first few seconds of a fight... Unfortunately many abilities with long cooldowns also deal damage over time, which is cut short. A huge advantage is that it let's you buy cheap light armor for max damage, but it works better on some companions than others.

All companions have a few fantastic skills for every role, so I try to incorporate their most powerful skills, even if they don't fit their role. E.g. Mirri's fear spell doesn't cause immunity, so nearby enemies are feared for 4 seconds in every 8; it's a tank ability that is great on any melee build... On "all round" builds I prefer heavy armor, because the extra survivability is more useful than a buff to just damage.

The best medium armor DD is probably a "battlemage" build that uses abilities with an 8 second cooldown. (3 class abilities, Starfall, and one from dual wield, bow, or destro staff). Once you finish casting all abilities, you are almost ready to start again. Some companions are better for this (Isobel), but the advantage is you can use your gear weights and aggressive trait to improve the unrelenting stream of damage.

Again echoing Phaneup; I prefer "quickened" builds. My best damage dealers use the quickened trait, and on abilities with a 12 second cooldown and an 8 second duration. Quickened reduces the cooldown, so the abilities are recast almost as soon as they expire. This is trading damage buffing traits, to keep DoT's, HoT's, shields, and buffs at near 100% uptime. I personally feel like the extra survivability from heavy armor is worth more than the damage boost from medium armor, but it's pretty close.

ADarklore

Honestly, I tend to equip ALL my Companions in Heavy Quickened armor (except Tank which I use Heavy Bolstered) regardless of them being DPS or Healer. It offers them better survivability... Medium offers, what, 6% increased damage... which 6% of already mediocre damage is a tiny return compared to survivability IMO.